NEW FACULTY 2015-2016

Christopher White, Assistant Professor of Music Theory, has taught at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and Yale University. Dr. White holds a PhD from Yale, and attended Queens College–CUNY and Oberlin College Conservatory of Music. His articles have appeared in Music Perception and in Mathematics and Computation in Music; and he has presented papers at national meetings and regional conferences of the Society for Music Theory. His research investigates algorithmic and linguistic theories by presenting computational models of musical style, function, meter, and communication. The research has also focused on geometrically modeling early 20th-century musics, especially of Alexander Scriabin and Alban Berg. Dr. White studied organ with Haskell Thompson and James David Christie, and is an active performer. As a member of the Three Penny Chorus and Orchestra, he has appeared on NBC's Today Show and as a quarterfinalist on America's Got Talent. For publications and recordings: chriswmwhite.com.

Assistant Professor of Voice, soprano Jamie-Rose Guarrine has performed with the Austin Lyric, Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Santa Fe, and Utah Operas; and Wolf Trap Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Opera Omaha, Opera Memphis, and Chicago Opera Theater. Her work includes concerts with the Madison Symphony, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica, and the Santa Fe Symphony.
Her repertoire includes Baroque through modern works such as the Pergolesi Stabat Mater, Handel's Agrippina, Keiser's The Fortunes of King Croesus, Mark Adamo's Lysistrata, and Philip Glass' Galileo Galilei. Dr. Guarrine has taught at Illinois Wesleyan University, the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Please visit jamieroseguarrine.com.

Fumi Tomita, Assistant Professor of Jazz Performance and Pedagogy, holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, NY, in Jazz and Contemporary Media Studies. He earned his Master of Music from Manhattan School of Music in Jazz & Commercial Music with distinction in Jazz Bass and a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies with distinction in Jazz Bass from McGill University. While at Eastman, his teaching experience has included Jazz Theory/Improvisation for Non-Majors, Basic Jazz Bass (for both jazz and education majors in a classroom setting), and Jazz History and Analysis (TA for both undergraduate and graduate level courses). He has also maintained applied bass studios at the University of Rochester, the Eastman Community Music School and, similarly at other music institutions in and around New York City (including electric bass, guitar and piano). Website: fumitomita.com.

FACULTY SUCCESSES

Astrid Schween, professor of cello in the UMass Amherst Department of Music & Dance since 2004, has been chosen to join the Juilliard String Quartet in September, 2016. Ms. Schween will also become a member of the Juilliard School faculty. Professor Schween will continue teaching and performing at UMass Amherst through May, 2016. In the Quartet, she will replace cellist Joel Krosnick, who was the professor of cello at the UMass Amherst Department of Music & Dance in the 1960s.

Ms. Schween has performed extensively throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. A frequent guest artist with the Boston and Memphis Chamber Music Societies, she is a member of the Boston Trio. As a member of the Lark Quartet for 20 years, she performed at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Wigmore Hall, Lincoln Center, the Schleswig-Holstein Festival, Lockenhaus, and the Beethoven Festival in Moscow. With the Lark, she garnered numerous awards—the Shostakovich Gold Medal in Russia and the Naumburg Chamber Music Award, among them. Ms. Schween performs regularly with pianists Randall Hodgkinson and Michael Gurt, and has appeared frequently with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.

GREAT REVIEW FOR GILLES VONSATTEL
Professor of Piano Gilles Vonsattel performed with the Amphion Quartet in the Chamber Music Society (CMS) of Lincoln Center’s summer series on July 19, 2015. Here’s what the blog Oberon’s Grove had to say about his performance of Mendelssohn’s Quartet in B minor for Piano, Violin, Viola, & Cello, Op.3: “I've always had a strong streak of unabashed 'fanhood'; if I like a singer/dancer/musician, I really become an admirer and they become an idol. That happened for me today as Gilles Vonsattel played his way into my echelon of favorites. In 2014, the Swiss-born American pianist participated in a memorable CMS performance of Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time. Playing my beloved Mendelssohn this evening, Mr. Vonsattel's quicksilver technique and masterful turns of phrase kept me constantly drawn to the keyboard. In the finale, Mr. Vonsattel's mercurial playing was simply irresistible.”

One of the best music schools/departments in Massachusetts and in New England, offering graduate and undergraduate Music Education, Jazz, Performance, Music History and Music Theory degrees and programs.